The Guide: Fanfiction 101 for New Writers and Old Experts Alike
by Grandmaster4
Summary: Have an idea for a story, but don't know how to capture peoples' attention? Struggling to craft realistic characters and a compelling plot? Tired of hearing repetitive, rhetorical questions in summaries? Well, fear not; you will all be welcome here at The Guide. Just sit back, relax, and let this Guide give you all you need to become the next great PJO Fanfiction writer.
1. Opening Page

**Opening Page**

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**A/N: Hello, readers! If you are reading this, you are probably here with the intention of improving yourself as a writer. If this is the case, you have come to the right place. This guide will help you with every aspect of the writing process here at Fanfiction. Whether you are a casual writer, a seasoned veteran of Fanfiction, or a person who is struggling to make your story heard, you will be welcome here, and it is my fullest hope that everyone who reads this will take something significant out of it.**

**Now you may be wondering if my opinion and advice is worth reading and considering. If you are the kind of person who is willing to give this guide a try without prior knowledge of me or my experience, kudos to you. We will get along swimmingly. If, however, you are in need of more persuasion before trying this guide out, you will be satisfied. I am currently in the process of writing the first of a five-part series of Percy Jackson fanfiction stories, the first of which is named _Apple of Discord_. ****I encourage _all_ of you to read it, but if you want a showcase of my writing ability, there's that little 70K nugget. It's pretty good, if I do say so myself. **

**I guess I should add that I've actually had two original poems published through my school. That's pretty impressive, right?**

**So, I'm not some schmuck who thinks he can tell people what to do. I think I can safely say that I know what I'm talking about. Writing is a passion for me, and there's a good chance that it is a passion for many of you readers. Or if it isn't, you want it to be, because as everyone knows, the soulful artsy types always get the top picks of whatever gender(s) they're into. TRUST ME.***

***You can trust me with a lot of things. This isn't necessarily one of them.**

**One thing readers will come to expect is for me to bash the practices of the general PJO fanfiction, specifically the cliches and shortcomings so common in the fanbase. This will usually be over-the-top sarcasm or hyperbole, and I want to iterate right now that_ I'm not trying to offend anyone_. No specific authors or stories will be named at any point. If you find that you disagree with my opinions of what is good writing and what is a steaming puddle of liquid sewage, or if you find that you as a writer gravitate towards stories that I deem ridiculous or flat-out stupid, please don't take this personally. I instead encourage you to read what my reasoning is (I will always try to give it), weigh it appropriately, and make your own opinion of the subject. Don't get me wrong; however humorous or grossly exaggerated I state my beliefs, there's always at least a sliver of actual frustration or lamentation on the topic, which I actually mean to convey. But I'm not expecting or even wanting each and every reader to agree with me all the time. That would be boring.**

**I will try to make this guide fun to read as well as educational. If you find yourselves tiring of my humor, or you are just generally a humorless person, try to grin and bear it to get to the actual tidbits of advice. I find that writing is much easier and fun if you try to write in a way that appeals to you, and the style of writing you will find in this guide is appealing to me. I hope you will all enjoy or at least appreciate my efforts to keep things light.**

**This guide will focus both on writing mechanics (like grammar, spelling, plot, characters, etc.) and creative aspects (style, presentation, theme). Pick and choose what you want to pay attention to if that's what you want to do. If you, for example, want advice for how to get people to give your story a try, but think you have general spelling and grammar down to a science, I have no problem with your skipping around. I mean, the guide is just that: a guide. Use what you need as a writer, and if you have no desire to read what you already know, I won't be offended.**

**I've rated this T for one reason: I find that there's no replacement for a well-placed F-bomb to really get your point across when you need to. There will not be liberal swearing, but when swearing is used it won't exactly be appropriate for all ages, kids. I'm just trying to be responsible here.**

**Before we start, I have one last thing to tell you all: Writing is _not_ easy. It is quite possibly the most difficult thing you can devote such a massive amount of time towards. And yes, all writers will have to put a good chunk of time into their work if it's going to be any good. That's just a fact. No sane person writes a good story because they _want_ to; they write a good story because they _need_ to. Writers have a burning desire to make their voices heard, a desire to make people laugh and smile and cheer for a person who doesn't even really exist. Writers have a monumental task to fulfill each and every time they pick up a pen or open their laptop. They need to craft entire worlds out of nothing but words, then throw that world into the turmoil and darkness we can see every day in our own world. They need to take characters they've nurtured and shaped in their heads for weeks or maybe months, and drag those characters through the pain and heartbreak we try to look away from but can't. They do this to tell us something, anything, about our societies, our nations, our friends, our families. About ourselves most of all. **

**If all this intimidates you, _it should_. Writing isn't for the faint of heart. But I'll leave you with this: It is one of the most rewarding experiences you can possibly go through. It changes you, entirely for the better. As you craft your own worlds, plots, and characters, you will begin to see parallels in what you see in today's world and what you want to write. It will sweep you off your feet and open doors where none existed before. And after a while, if you really heed the call, you'll never want that feeling to go away. It becomes a part of you.**

**Let's begin, ladies and gentlemen. We have work to do.**

**-Grandmaster4**


	2. Entry One: Presentation

**Entry One: Presentation**

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**I have a question to ask you, my readers: What drew you all to this Guide in the first place? Why did you give this thing a shot to begin with? Why did you think this was the thing for you? **

**These are rhetorical questions, by the way (we'll get into those later). The first thing each and every one of you saw was the title, along with the collection of information and the opening summary found on the Fanfiction page. Something I wrote there drew you all in like... like an analogy describing such a situation. Sorry, I'm a bit rusty. I'll think of one eventually, I suppose. It'll probably have something to do with either black holes, gravity wells, or Charybdis the Greco-Roman sea monster. Stay tuned, kids.**

**Where the hell was I? Oh yeah, presentation. I wrote something each of you found amusing, or interesting, or strangely arousing, and now we're here. I had one opportunity to get people to look at this guide, and I pulled it off because I made this guide look appealing and interesting to read. Every single author on this site has to make a small summary to go with their story, and what many don't understand is that this is one of the most important steps towards being successful on Fanfiction.**

**It's obvious that many people don't understand this, because a good seventy percent of stories on Fanfiction at any given time have opener summaries and titles that make me want to beat my head in with a brick. Made of razor blades. On fire. Shot out of a cannon, that's also on fire. No particular reason the cannon needs to be on fire, I just think the imagery is nice.**

**I'll break down exactly what should be expected from writers in their presentation of their stories. Because someone freaking has to, and I guess that's me.****  
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**Proper Spelling/Grammar/CAPITALIZATION:**

Folks, I'll be the first one to say it. I'm incredibly particular in what I choose to read when I browse around on this site. It's more than just what material is being made into fan-fiction; I will not waste my time reading a story that I believe will be boring or poorly written. And I am not alone; no one wants to read a story that looks like it was typed up by a six-year old. It's just using up time one could be spending on a story that is actually awesome.

I don't consider myself an extremist when it comes to the occasional error in mechanics. I will not scour a story and tally up how many times the writer screws up and misspells a word. But I will gladly say that I find correct spelling and grammar important. It sets the writer apart to me if they have a firm grasp on the English language, and it shows that they actually care about what they write. That's why, when I see a story so far in the opposite direction that my retinas turn inside out from pure disgust and aggravation, you can bet your lives that I will _never_ read it.

I know this whole spelling and grammar mechanics thing should be covered in the aptly-named future entries, but I will have to give an abridged version here for the sole reason of venting my frustration and outlining ways that this sort of crisis can be avoided if I happen to look at the stories of my readers. Because the whole point of this Guide thing is to teach people things, you know? Not just to tell you that Fanfiction writers suck. I want this situation to get better, because I really love this site, and I'm tired of all the reconstructive surgery to my retinas. It isn't cheap to get those pesky retinas back inside your frickin' eyes.

Proper nouns are capitalized. They're _always_ capitalized, no matter where they appear in a sentence. This is first-grade stuff, yet it is almost consistently forgotten by admittedly-terrible writers on this site. The definition of proper noun is the name of a specific person, the name of a specific place, or the title of a specific object (like naval ships, for example the _Titanic_). Meanwhile, the only other things that should be (and has to be) capitalized are words at the very beginning of a sentence and the word "I." Also first-grade stuff. NOTHING ELSE SHOULD BE CAPITALIZED, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY IN THIS GOD-FORSAKEN WORLD*. The only, _only_ exception is when you're writing your title, in which the following setup is correct: Capitalize the first word, then all words that aren't conjunctions, articles, or prepositions. For example, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," by Edgar Allen Poe, is presented here correctly. Basically keep in mind which words are "important" (nouns, verbs, and adjectives), and leave out those little extra words (in, the, of, etc.)

*Unless, of course, you're trying to convey intense loudness or emphasis as seen in this sentence, in which case you capitalize _every_ _letter_ in the passage that is desired (not just the first letter). By the way, this looks highly unprofessional in presentation and should be avoided if possible when making a opening summary/title; italics will do fine in moderation, but overuse of italics or use of caps-lock speech will make the story look annoying and overtly enthusiastic.

Periods end sentences. Once again, a first-grade lesson in grammar that some people choose to forget. You simply cannot begin another idea without ending the preceding one with some type of punctuation, whether it be a period, quotation mark, or exclamation point. Periods are the default ends of a sentence, specifically a sentence that ends with its own conclusion, whereas question marks _have to be used _when asking a question, shockingly enough. There's no leeway here; you can't just pick and choose if you want to use question marks after questions. Rather, you can't if you want to be taken seriously by me or any other writer worth his/her salt. Exclamations are to be used _sparingly_ to convey loudness, surprise, emphasis, and occasionally sarcasm. Fancy that!

These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to grammar and spelling problems, but they are the most common and unappealing that are seen in opening summaries, so I felt they needed to be said here rather than later.

Finally, I want to say that I understand that this sense of proper mechanics doesn't come naturally to everyone. Mistakes happen, and there's nothing wrong with that when it doesn't become a problem. But everyone should understand that when you're writing your openers, _that is all your potential viewers have to go off of_. Mistakes seen here will be seen by pretty much every potential reader, and to be honest that could make or break if your story will become popular. You should take that portion of your writing very seriously; place it under all the writing scrutiny you can, and if you still aren't sure, Google it. Seriously, you're obviously on a computer or device with internet capabilities. This should be first-nature to all of us by now.

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**Appropriate Presentation Content:**

Time for some more brutal honesty: I honestly don't care about who's getting together with who in your stories. Well, that's not entirely true; some PJO couples annoy the ever-loving crap out of me for a number of reasons for each, but I won't get into that right now. What I mean is that no writer should take what little room they have in that tiny opener summary and shrink it even more just to include who's getting with who (I.E. putting "Thalico" directly into the summary, usually at the very end). It's lazy, and it would be far better put through the content of the summary if it's really that important to the story.

There are a lot of these sort of space-wasters that are terrifyingly common on the PJO fanbase in particular. Each of these send shivers up my professionalized spine with how stupid and utterly useless their presence is:

"I suck at summaries LOL!"

I hate this, for _so_ many reasons. One, it is basically saying that you lack talent. I'm sorry, but if you can't summarize what your story is about and what is going to be expected, you are either not even close to ready to write a story, or your story isn't worth writing or reading. Two, you're giving me as a reader nothing to go off of concerning what this so-called story entails. Am I supposed to say, "Hey, this _might_ be good! Better check it out!" _NO._ I refuse to give what little time I have to looking at what is most likely going to be a steaming pile of crap. I don't assume the positive possibilities when you give me nothing; I assume the negative ones, and trust me, my suspicions are always confirmed if I make the mistake of looking deeper. Three, it's just lazy as balls. Seriously, this matters so little to you that you don't want to take the time to give us readers _anything_ to go off of? Then you'll excuse me if I give the rest of your story just as little regard as you appear to do.

Maybe you _do_ suck at summaries. Maybe it takes you actual _hours_ to figure out what to put on that dang thing. But you need to put something. Please, just start with what's happening at the very beginning, any information you want to impart to us before we start, and then we'll at least be able to weigh the merits of the story with, I don't know, _actual information_. Jesus Christ, people, no one's asking for the best damn summary we've ever seen in our lives. We just want to know what we might be dealing with here. Give us a quote, a passage, something to draw us in. You won't be disappointed if you give it all you have.

"This is my first story..."

Don't. Put. This. Please, for everyone's sake, don't reveal that you have (in all likelihood) little to no experience writing. I'm going to tell you all an exclusive writers' secret: Every single author, no matter how good they are now, sucked something awful at one point. That one point is their first experiences in writing. Do you think that, just because I myself only have one story up at the moment of writing, that _Apple of Discord_ is my very first written story? Hell-to-the-NO. I shaped myself and my style over almost three years of personal writing. Yes, _AoD_ is my first publicly-viewed baby, but I certainly don't put that in my opener, because that looks really, really bad. That doesn't mean you shouldn't write if you've never done so for others before, like me; it just means that it isn't information you should be throwing out, because people will either avoid it like the plague or give you pity likes/reviews. Which are far worse than nothing, in my opinion. If you find that your first story is doing well, then and only then do you have the right to gloat out that this is your first story with impunity, like I do _constantly_.

"No Flames!"

Why are you telling us this? People don't flame things for no reason. Or if they do, those people are assholes, and are therefore not worth your time and energy. When I see "No flames," I immediately think that there will be something flame-worthy in such a story, and therefore I avoid it. Putting this means that you're afraid of how your writing will be seen by others, and no writer should have that fear. Writers do what they do because they aren't afraid of what others will think of them. Writers have confidence in themselves and their beliefs. Therefore, putting this is redundant; flaming is stupid, and no one should do it regardless of whether you tell them not to or not. In other words, don't put it at all.

"Title says it all!"

This is just a sub-form of "I suck at summaries." It's lazy and stupid. Like I said, If you can summarize what your story is all about in like five words, you have to begin to ask yourself if the story's really worth writing. Because a story like that is going nowhere very fast. Stop while you can, if you find that you can't put anything more than "the title of this is literally all that can be said about this story."

God damn it, I'm tired. Ranting is exhausting, but at least it's for a good cause. Anyway, avoid these things, and you will be in a much better position to get people to read and like your story.

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**Cover Pictures:**

I have one last tidbit to add into presentation concerning cover images. On this Guide, you will find a picture of political satirist Stephen Colbert, who is just awesomely hilarious and is one of many influences for the sense of wit and humor in the Guide. On _Apple of Discord_, you will find an image of, you guessed it, the Apple of Eris, which I found after about thirty seconds of browsing Google Images.

I believe that adding a cover picture sets a story apart from everyone else's, and it's so easy that anyone can do it. I encourage my readers to do so for themselves; it really is worth the effort.

No ranting in this mini section. Just a nice little encouragement after a mountain of pure venting and frustration.

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**Alright, this concludes the Presentation Entry. Or rather, it concludes it for the time being. See, the Guide is liable to additions and changes at my own discretion. If I find that I want to put something else in, I will. But you all shouldn't worry about that for quite some time.**

**Review if you have questions, comments, or hate-filled, indignant ravings to give to me. I shall answer to, reply to, or laugh at each one, respectively. See you all soon!**

**-Grandmaster4**


	3. Entry Two: Punctuation

**A/N: Hello, readers! The responses to the first entry of The Guide were awesome, and that really excites me. To be honest, I was worried that this Guide wouldn't be very popular. I really can't thank you all enough for reviewing, following, and favoriting The Guide. I'll now directly address my reviewers:**

**MortalFantasy0002- This entry is a dedication to you, my first reviewer. I hope it is helpful and enlightening about both simple and complex punctuation. "Okay" writers are in a precarious position on the writers' spectrum. What I mean by this is that people aren't "okay" writers for a very long time. You eventually have to either nurture that desire to write and in doing so become a good or great writer, or move on to something else. Thankfully, you seem to really want to improve yourself as a writer, so I'll do the best I can to guide you. ****Speaking of the word "guide": blueprint, model, pattern, template, criterion (aw yiss), exemplar, gauge, measure, and standard are all nice synonyms. **

**SpartanWarrior117- Your patronage is highly appreciated. AoD will be continued when I have time to do so, so just stay tuned for that for a month or so, when Track will be over and school will be a breeze.**

**Nemo- The Percy Jackson Fanfiction base, flawed as it is, is my home, and therefore I felt that this would be the best place to post The Guide in order to make a change for the better. I suppose in theory I could try to contact the good people at Fanfiction to make this more widespread, but I think I will hold off on trying unless this gets a bit more popular, so I have some credentials to back me up. **

**My apparent, overt self-confidence is a factor of the humor aspect of The Guide; I am not, in fact, as terribly confident in my abilities as I may convey through The Guide. Quite the opposite. I nearly constantly fret over how people will portray and see me through my writing. The self-confidence thing also helps to convince people that I can actually help them through this Guide. If I don't look like I'm confident in myself, how can I expect anyone else to be confident in me?**

**I am unaware of any negative connotation with the word "rant." I find that it is a fair word to use when I am, in fact, venting real and strong frustration. If you could maybe clarify how that comes off as, I will gladly revoke my use of the word. Thank you so much for your thoughtful analysis of The Guide, and I hope I will hear back from you again.**

**Myseybee- I actually love me, too! We have so much in common (See above for fake self-confidence spiel)! I'm very happy that you like The Guide and agree with my points and guidelines, and I hope you will continue to find it helpful and entertaining. We should chat sometime!**

**Guest (2X)- I assume you didn't see that you've already posted one review and so tried to post another. Either that, or my viewers seriously lack imagination. Thank you for your compliments, and I will try to do the best I can to hold myself to the standard of The Guide in the future.**

**Nameless Slinger- I've actually used that method many times in my own works! You can count on me including that helpful little tip in the spelling or grammar sections. Thank you for the excellent tip, and I hope you continue reading and learning.**

**Without further ado, let's begin.**

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**Entry Two: Punctuation**

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**Punctuation is the use of certain symbols to aid in the presentation and rhythmic flow of dialogue and general writing. This entry in The Guide will help you understand all the ins-and-outs of the following punctuation marks: periods, exclamation points (!), question marks (?), quotations and sub-quotations ("_")('_'), apostrophes ('), colons (:), semicolons (;), dashes (-), slashes (/), Parentheses ( (_) ), brackets ( [_] ), ellipses (...), and the dreaded comma (,). **

**Let's all try to forget that the quotations/subquotations examples look like cute little faces. We have some learning to do, and I will not tolerate any of you constantly scrolling back up here to laugh at them. Be mature, guys.**

**The PJO fanbase is, as you'd expect, not entirely educated on the use of many of these punctuations, even the easiest one: periods. I can pick a random story on the site, and nine times out of ten it will read like a breathless toddler, because they will refuse to use freaking periods and commas to correctly section off their thoughts and dialogue. Can you imagine how terrible the world would be without punctuation? We would read things over and over with no pauses or emotion constantly trying to find sense in the makeup of the authors mind trying to see what they want us to see even though its morphed together and trying desperately not to shoot ourselves in frustration OH GOD IT HURTS MY FINGERS TO WRITE LIKE THIS AS AN EXAMPLE HOW DO SOME WRITERS DO THIS AAAAAHHHHHH**

**This needs to stop.**

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**Periods:**

Periods, as I stated in the past entry "Presentation," are so simple that we are required to learn them in first-grade schooling. They simply end an idea so that a new one can be instated smoothly. They are the default ends to sentences (which are, by the way, just ideas expressed in a set structure of subject, verb, and predicate).

Vocally, these are moderate-sized pauses used in order to wrap up the idea just stated and allow the receiver time to process it separately from the subsequent ideas. I will be giving examples of vocalizations for each applicable punctuation in order to convey how each punctuation sounds in the internal thought process of the reader.

There isn't a great deal to be said about periods. They're vital to making a story look and sound good to a reader, and at the same time they're incredibly easy to use correctly. The problem arises when periods are used instead of other punctuation marks, or used when other punctuation marks would be better suited for the situation. These situations will be better put in the other punctuation sections, so... I guess I'm done now. Period.

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**Exclamation Points:**

Exclamation points are used to convey intensity and emphasis, including surprise, anger, lamentation, etc. They are also often used to convey sarcasm, because sarcasm tends to be harder to pick up without any emphasis to highlight it.

Vocally, exclamation points are very easy to pick up. They are _loud._ They are about the same duration as a period, but there is a stressing of the last word(s) that marks the state of emphasis. What state of emphasis is being expressed (surprise, anger, etc.) should be conveyed through the context.

I don't particularly like exclamation points. I find that I use them very rarely. What I've come to understand is that frequent use of the exclamation point, especially in narration, dulls the effect of the emphasis. I simply don't use exclamation points at all in narration as a result, because narration should be a disembodied voice detailing events as they transpire, impartial and without surprise or emotion. Even when working with the first person POV, people don't think in emphasis a great deal. In my opinion, exclamation points should only be used in appropriately loud or emotional dialogue.

I am not the final authority on the exclamation point, nor do I claim to be. People use them in varying degrees and situations, and a number of very good writers can pull off more frequent use of them in comparison to me. I have, however, see the overuse of exclamation points completely dismantle real moments of emotion in writing before, and I must conclude that, until you can really capture a style of writing that will justify more common use of the exclamation point, you should stick to my procedure dealing with exclamations. Use them in loud, emphasized dialogue, and not in narration.

Also, please don't use more than one exclamation point at a given time. If a passage is so intense that shouting or screaming is appropriate, use of caps-lock speech and one exclamation point looks far better to the reader than three exclamations in a row! Exclamation point!

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**Question Marks:**

Question marks are used to mark ideas of legitimate inquiry, whether an answer is to be expected, or if the question is being asked rhetorically.

Vocally, there is a curious fluctuation of the last word(s) that marks... well, curiosity. It's difficult to articulate how this sounds to the reader, but there is a heightening in vocal octave experienced in the mind of the reader when a question is asked. Actually, that wasn't very hard to articulate at all. Extensive vocabulary helps in that regard. Moving on.

This isn't difficult at all. Questions are inquiries; when something or someone is being asked of, the sentence ends with a question mark. It is quite annoying when an author neglects to put question marks and instead puts periods at the end of each sentence. It is a sign of the highest disregard for the rules of the English language. The English language is ever-evolving, but the question mark (unlike some other types of punctuation) isn't going anywhere soon, so it would be wise to make a habit of checking through your works for inquiries and making sure they are correctly marked.

If this isn't second nature to you (for example, if English is your second language), a number of words _almost_ always mark a sentence as an inquiry when they are the first word of a sentence: who, what, when, where, why, and how. Checking when these words appear is a good place to start when editing a story for question marks.

I also have to inform people of the awesome little sub-group of inquiry marks called the interrobang (!?). Basically, they're a combination of exclamation point and question mark. They can be written as either "!?" or "?!," but the effect is the same: either a very loud question, or an indignant question. Go and spread the news of the interrobang, because situations in which an interrobang would be used are often left without the wonderful effect of these funny little symbols. Got it? Question mark?

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**Quotations and Sub-Quotations:**

Quotation marks are used to mark the beginning and end of dialogue taking place in the story. They are also used to mark the titles of short stories, songs, and poetry, but the odds of any of those things popping up on a fanfiction story are a bit slim. Finally, they can be used to mark disagreement or disbelief towards the subject being quoted (Ivan the "Terrible" might be used if the writer doesn't actually feel that the particular title is appropriate for the Czar).

There's no sound for quotations, though there is occasionally a tone of irony or sarcasm that could suggest the use of quotations in the case of the third definition above. Austin Powers fans will understand the effect of Dr. Evil's air-quotes, for example. Other than that, one could argue that _everything_ we say to other people is already in quotations anyway. Mind bomb.

"Frustration" as a word doesn't convey close to what I feel when quotations aren't used to mark the beginning and end of dialogue. It looks absolutely dreadful, and I have no idea what the hell is being said or done. Please tell every writer who does this ignorantly to look at this Guide and save themselves from their own folly. If they do not comply, I can guarantee that they will never be taken seriously in any educated setting. They'd get laughed out of a third-grade gymnasium if they put such a story up on a projector.

Now, sub-quotations are passages being quoted _inside_ of quotes. "The writer insists that he's 'good enough at writing not to take this Guide seriously,'" Grandmaster4 said exasperatedly. "That poor, poor soul." Technically, sub-quotes are apostrophes, but I found that this use of apostrophes is very different from the marking of contractions/possession, so I named them "sub-quotations" instead of putting them in the apostrophe section. By the way, quotations always come _after_ other forms of punctuation, the most common of which are the comma. There should never be a comma, period, or any other punctuation (Except the parentheses. Fuck yeah, I got all the room I want in these things) that should be put directly outside of the back quotation; the punctuation needs to be considered part of the quoted passage, even if it seems silly to do so.

If that rule kind of sucks to you, it is quite similarly bemoaned among even the more skilled writers on the site. Blame the English language, see if it cares. Hint: _it won't._

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**Apostrophes:**

Apostrophes are used to mark the presence of a contraction such as "can't" or "would've." They are also used to mark possession of an object or trait.

No sound is applicable for apostrophes.

There's a lot of confusion over the use of the apostrophe. There's so much to say and not enough time to say everything, so I'll just outline the proper contractions and their meanings here:

n't- not

've- have

'm- am

's- does/has/is/us (as in "let's")

'll- will

'd- would/had/did

In the possessive use of apostrophes, the apostrophe is followed by an "s," unless the name or object that possesses the object ends with an "s," in which case an apostrophe is simply added to the end. For example, "James" would never be written as "James's" if he's possessing something; it'd just be written as "James'."

Finally, for the love of the gods, the possessive of "it" is just "its," not "it's." "It's" means "it is." Anytime a object or creature of undetermined gender possesses an item or quality, please use "its." That is probably one of the most, if not the most, common grammar/punctuation mistakes made on this site.

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**Colons:**

Colons (not to be confused with the internal organ of the same spelling) are used to precede a list, example, or explanation of some kind. I've used a ton of them so far in The Guide, so if you need an example of the correct usage, it shouldn't be too hard to find. _There's one right in the section above this one _(before the contraction examples), for Christ's sake.

A slight pause between the institution of a list/example and the items themselves is all that can be picked up from concerning colons.

If you aren't comfortable with the use of the colon, you aren't alone. Thankfully, the instances in which a colon should be used are fairly rare, and often the use can be avoided by simply breaking each item into its own sentence. The colon runs more smoothly, but it would be better to use the split sentences than to use the colon incorrectly.

The colon is an advanced example of punctuation. It enhances flow and presentation, but by no means is it necessary for most writers. Use the colon only when you are confident that you're using it right, okay?

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**Semicolons:**

Ah, semicolons. Most likely the trickiest and most pretentious-looking punctuation out there, the semicolon (not to be confused with the "imaginary organ of a semi-truck" of the same spelling) is used to make a moderate break between ideas that are very similar. Each of the ideas must be able to stand on its own without the use of the semicolon; for example, the use of the semicolon it this very sentence is only valid if each half could stand on its own in two sentences (subject, verb, predicate), which is here indeed the case. Some people hate the semicolon with a passion, simply because many writers argue that they are unnecessary.

Semicolons are vocally almost identical to periods. Some argue that they are shorter in duration, but to be honest the semicolon is almost undecipherable from the period vocally, because the situations in which they are used might be occupied by either two different sentences or two semicolon-linked ideas.

I personally find the semicolon to be a very nice little punctuation for when I have something more to add to a subject, but don't want the two ideas to stand alone as individual sentences, most often because the sentences would be short and choppy verbally. It is a bit better for the flow of a story; with that being said, the fact that so many people get such an arguably-useless punctuation incorrect when they try prompts me to reiterate what I said for the colon. Use them when you know you can, but only if you're confident that they are being used correctly. A good chunk of writers don't use semicolons at all, instead opting to break such instances into two sentences. The choice of whether to use semicolons is entirely up to the writer.

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**Dashes:**

There are technically two types of dashes: short dashes (or hyphens) used to link two adjectives or certain terms that correspond with each other, and long dashes used to insert a passage into a sentence, similarly to a parenthesis or a double comma. You'll notice that there is no button to type these longer dashes on the keyboard. Indeed, if you are writing strictly off of the Fanfiction website's word documents, it is actually impossible to make such dashes, because when anyone hits save the double dash that would make the longer dash on Microsoft Word is made into one dash. But if you are uploading a Microsoft Word Doc onto the site, it is possible for the long dash to remain intact.

Hyphens are marked vocally by the lack of a pause between the joined adjectives; they are named as one adjective. Long dashes are marked by slight pauses at the beginning and end of the inserted passage, which is vocally indistinguishable from the use of parenthesis and double comma.

I no longer use the long dashes, simply because I no longer use Microsoft Word to write my stories. As it has been stated, the use of commas or parenthesis is just as good. As for the short dashes, I am afraid I might be using them _too much_. At one point I was joining almost every dual word that I came across. Though such a use is technically not _incorrect_, it can get over-the-top, and as a result I have toned down my use of the short dash. Some words definitely need to have a hyphen between them, but often times it is up to the aesthetic choice of the writer.

* * *

**Slashes:**

Slashes are used when describing two things as if they were one and the same, or when there are multiple terms to apply to a set of criteria. They are often used in the explanation of analogies/metaphors/euphemisms. See?

Vocalization of slashes is often done, strangely enough, by flat-out saying the word "slash." This is what many readers will say in their heads when seeing the slash; otherwise they will simply treat the two words as compound words.

The instances in which slashes would be used are very slim, and are thus easily avoided if the use of slashes is undesirable. It can, however, get tedious to keep inserting and/or between the slash-able* words.

*"Slashable" isn't a word. Yet.

* * *

**Parenthesis/Brackets:**

Parenthesis (plural and singular) are used to make asides in dialogue, or insert new or added information into narration. Brackets are used very, very rarely if the writer feels that he or she needs to convey something _directly_ to the reader. [My real name isn't actually Grandmaster4. Scandalous, I know.]

Slight pauses in between the inserted texts are the vocalizations for parenthesis. Parenthesis in dialogue means that the character who is speaking isn't _actually_ saying that part; it is an implication made by either the speaker himself/herself, or a listener. Brackets aren't used vocally at all; the implication would be that our subconscious would like to impart some information that the conscious mind doesn't. And that would be weird.

I have never used brackets in my entire writing existence. This is due to my philosophy on writing: if you want the reader to know something, give them the message through the story, not by direct statement (if that is not possible, then it doesn't need to be said in my eyes). I use parenthesis quite often, on the other hand. Good for inserting humor into dialogue and narration, which is always a plus for me.

* * *

**Ellipses:**

Ellipses are used to mark a "drifting off"of thought or speaking. If a character is interrupted mid-speech, is trying to think of the right thing to say, or is falling into a bottomless pit, the ellipses has your back.

Ellipses would vocally be very long pauses interspersing a passage.

I like ellipses very much. What I dislike is when they are incorrectly typed or written. It's always _three_ periods. Not two, not four, not twenty-eight just because it's a _really_ long pause. Three. Ellipses can add a sense of drama or awkwardness to dialogue or narration, which can really bring such dialogue or narration to life if used correctly.

* * *

**Commas:**

The comma is deceptively tricky. You'd think they would be easy to understand, yet they are simultaneously the most common punctuation (by far) and the easiest punctuation to screw over your work if done incorrectly.

Commas are slight pauses. Simple enough.

Commas do a crap-ton of things, from inserting passages, to separation items in a list, to sectioning off run-on sentences, et cetera. What's tricky is how much comma is too much comma. Not using commas is atrocious and makes the reading hurried and confusing, but using too many without ending the ideas leave the passage choppy and unappealing to read, especially if each segment is very small. I would never put a cap on how many commas to use, because so many great writers use very long sentences sectioned very neatly by commas. But the writer must always keep in mind how each sentence appears to the reader, and decide for himself or herself when to close off the stream of ideas and details with a period and begin again.

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**Thank you for reading. I hope the readers who chose not to bypass this boring-looking entry gleaned some juicy knowledge from my brain. I hope to continue soon and update before the weekend is up. Stay tuned!**

**-Grandmaster4**


	4. Entry Three: Original Characters

**A/N: Thank you all once again for the thoughtful reviews on the punctuation chapter. Here are some replies:**

**Hyphenator- The dashes section was the last segment to be written, and it was done so at eleven o'clock at night. My mind was blanking on the word "hyphen" for some reason, and I guess I just figured people would understand what I was talking about until I remembered the word. The second I saw your username I just thought, "Ah. That would indeed be the word." Thanks for that. Also, I distinctly know that I put your other point in the section as well. Some words definitely need hyphens.**

**Guest- An ellipses can be at the beginning of a sentence as well as the end. Therefore, four-period "ellipses" are possible in that the first sentence can end with a period, then transit to a sentence beginning with an ellipses. The ellipses itself is still only three periods; it just looks like four next to a period.**

**LemonadeLunatic- Thank you for being the fifth person I've ever known who can (probably) articulate the difference between "who" and "whom." It's a matter of direct and indirect object; to make it easier, instances in which "he" would be used instead become "who," and instances with "him" become "whom." I already made a presentation chapter that outlined what _not_ to do in the summaries and titles, and a couple of suggestions were made on what_ to_ do. Go back and give it a read!**

**MortalFantasy0002- "Disconcerting" is a touch harsh, as it means that I have disturbed or worried you to an acute degree. You have "so clearly stated" your problem exactly once, and I'm not entirely sure what you want me to clarify or explain. Punctuation in dialogue is exactly the same as punctuation in narration. After fitting the quotation marks around what the character is saying, the punctuation rules apply as stated. Dialogue sections end with either a comma (if it's a statement, followed by the dialogue prompt and subsequent action), a question mark (if it's an inquiry), an exclamation point (if it's an exclamation), or a period (if the end of the dialogue, having already had a dialogue prompt inserted beforehand, marks the end of a paragraph or concrete statement). A dialogue prompt is my own term for the critical tidbit inserted before, between, or after dialogue to explain who is speaking and how it's being spoken (I.E. "...," said Character angrily). There's very likely a different technical term for the "dialogue prompt," but I am unfamiliar with it, so you must forgive me if I continue to use my own construct.  
**

**If you are still unsatisfied, or I'm simply not telling you exactly what you need to know, I encourage you to PM me. **

**Myseybee- Ah, the "flow" chapter. Soon to come, don't worry about that. Story flow is a serious issue indeed, but it's definitely harder to teach someone who goes too fast as opposed to someone who waffles around. "Waffle," by the way, is an awesome word to use to describe the situation, and I applaud your use of it. Back to the point, I will address how to control the pacing and flow of a story in the entries to come, and I hope you enjoy The Guide and continue to support it. You can ask me for advice anytime. _Auf Wiedersehen!_**

* * *

**Entry Three: Original Character Development**

**Characters are the people, anthropomorphous animals, and/or fictional creatures who take part in a work of literature. Not a difficult concept to understand, unless of course you are unfamiliar with the word "anthropomorphous," which basically means giving non-human things human qualities such as reason and distinct emotion. You may now dazzle your friends and family by stealing my exemplary vocabulary skills. I'll wait.**

**...Done? Good.**

**We here at Fanfiction deal with two major factions of characters: Series characters and OCs (short for "Original Characters"). This entry of The Guide will be explaining the mechanics of development for OCs, while the subsequent entry will deal with the characterization (through the story, as opposed to closed development) of both OCs and series characters of the PJO/HoO series.**

**On your journey to become a writer, you will eventually hit a point where you'll want to see how well you can create a character of your own, as opposed to using Mr. Riordan's characters exclusively. This is a very important skill to develop if you really think you might have a desire to write professionally. But it's a very, _very_ tricky business to make a good, well-developed character that people want to root for. Or hate with a passion. Or begrudgingly respect. Or an awesome combination of the three.**

**The creation of OCs in fanfiction is simultaneously the best and worst thing that has happened to the genre. It's great when it leads to an expansion of the universe as a whole, or allows us to look into the darker corners of the world we all thought we knew so well. It's not so great when the characters are glorified stick figures with no motivation, no interesting traits, no capacity for the reader to relate to him/her, and no originality despite being called an "original character."**

**We, the readers and writers of Fanfiction, are drowning in rehashed, one-dimensional OCs churned out by people who don't quite understand the delicacies and processes of original character development. Therefore, I will try my utmost to simplify and streamline the process of brainstorming and creating OCs.  
**

* * *

**Brainstorming Your Original Character(s):**

Alright, so you've had an idea for a story for as long as you can remember. The conflict and plot refuse to leave your head, and you're convinced that people will enjoy reading what you have created. Great. That's a really good start; one that a good majority of people lack the ability to reach. But you need characters to participate in this plot, interact with this environment, and keep us on the edge of our seats. If you don't have characters in your story... well, it's not a story. Simple as that.

There are literally hundred of different processes that are used by writers to think up a character. I will not tell you them all, because that would be ridiculous. No, I'll tell you all a couple methods of creation that have been proven effective by yours truly:

1) Five-Core Development

The Five-Core Development method is highly effective for making major characters. It is also very simple: you simply choose five traits that you want a certain planned character to possess. The catch is that they have to be somewhat specific; you can't just get away with saying "kind." How are they kind? How do they demonstrate their kindness? Who are they kind to? Friends, family, people in general? In other words, it should be a detailed statement, not a word.

As an example, I will give the Five-Core Development of one of my own characters in _Apple of Discord,_ James Davince. Is this blatant advertising on my part? Somewhat. But the main reason I'm using my own character is that, as his creator, I know him better than literally any person that exists, or will ever exist. Which is one of the many things that is awesome about being a writer. I am therefore in a much better position to break down my own character as opposed to one of Rick Riordan's or another famous character.

_(1) James possesses an extraordinary amount of willpower; there is very little that will deter him from achieving what he needs to do. Pain and opposition come second to doing what he puts his mind to._

_(2) James is completely devoted to the people that rely on him. He will readily shoulder any burden he can to keep his family and friends safe, even if they themselves are opposed to his doing it._

_(3) James believes in an ultimate sense of order and fairness in the universe; everything will eventually work back into a more-or-less balanced state, people will eventually get what they deserve (good or bad), and he is more than willing to help the process along._

_(4) James is prone to seeing the world in a rigid system of "good" and "bad." It is very hard for him to deal with a situation in which the morality is a bit more complicated, and what is "right" to do isn't always clear._

_(5) James has a very straightforward, blunt manner of expressing himself; lying doesn't come easily to him, and he will only hide the way he feels if he deems it absolutely imperative for the safety of his family and friends. When he does try to hide his feelings, he gets mixed success._

Notice that I didn't add a single thing about James' appearance, past experiences, or other specific characters. Heck, it doesn't even say what side he's on. That's where the "Core" part comes in; you shouldn't write a Five-Core Development statement that relies on his situation or the people around him. That promotes rigidity of thought, which makes getting new ideas much harder to integrate into the planned story. The five core statements are the representation of who that person is at heart. What you do from there (appearance, dialogue, background, and so on) is going to change in your mind as the story develops both on paper and in your head, but these five things will remain constant, anchoring the character in your mind as to his/her place in the story. And if you do a good job at the characterization in the story (next entry stuff), your audience will eventually know these core values just as well as you do.

2) One-Path Development

This one is quite similar to the Five-Core Development. The difference is that this is designed for secondary or "stock" characters as opposed to major characters. Think of it as a more broad, simplified Five-Core Development; because these characters don't need as much detail and development as major characters, they don't need such a strong base of traits to build off of. They just need a direction to take regarding that building process, hence the "Path" part. This doesn't necessarily mean that secondary characters can't be dynamic or interesting. Quite the opposite. But there's less of a need for fluidity of ideas in secondary characters than in major characters.

The One-Path Development is just a paragraph that will be used to dictate how that character will interact with major characters and other secondary characters (still no specifics; just_ how_ their general demeanor will be, not_ why_). The following is the One-Path Development for Will Montano, an important secondary character in_ Apple of Discord_.

_Will is the kind of person that even the more abrasive characters can't help but like. He has a confident, earnest air about him that has a tendency to ease tension in a difficult situation. He thoroughly enjoys making jokes, even at the least ideal times. Underneath the happy-go-lucky composure lies a surprisingly shrewd observer of human nature and behavior. One second, he may be poking fun at an unsuspecting character, and the next he will remark something so astute and accurate about their psyche that the readers will come to understand that he is one of the most emotionally intelligent characters in the story. All-in-all, Will is both a welcome distraction from stressful situations and an enlightening individual for characters struggling with their emotions._

Keep in mind that I have been doing this for quite some time, and have a lot of practice with articulating my thoughts and ideas. You may or may not get quite as much information in your own drafts of Five-Core and One-Path Developments the first few times around. If you can, well, kudos to you. You are a talented individual, and apparently don't need this Guide at all. Your patronage was appreciated while it lasted. Go write a couple novels. As for the rest of us, neither needs to be as long or detailed as my examples, but the principles should be there: core values/core path without specifics concerning situation or other characters.

It's important to note that these two types of creation developments are just the first steps of the creation process. They should give you a foundation on which to build the developing character, but your work is far from over. You need to figure out what this character is going to look like, what they are going to say, what their life is going to be like. And the terrible thing is, I can't really help you so much there. There's no general rule for that kind of development, as it's completely dependent on the specific story. All I can say is that you should have a firm grasp on what those things are before you write, but at the same time you can't fix yourself irrevocably to one image until it's been written and written _well. _As in final draft, right before it goes fresh off the press. Until then, keep an open mind and let the Muses do their job if something new comes to you.

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**Demigod-Specific OC Development:  
**

Lest we forget, we are currently reading and writing about a world in which Greco-Roman gods exist and are having far more children than they should be. A vast majority of OCs are going to have some wicked-ass powers at their disposal, and there are some rules that should be followed concerning this very fanbase-specific situation.

The powers need to make some freaking sense, and be proportional to the relative strength of demigods to gods. By which I mean that a child of Poseidon should be able to breath underwater, have a modest degree of hydrokinesis, talk to horses, and perhaps cause small-scale earthquakes. If your child of Poseidon can actively and easily burst a person's head open from twenty feet away with their mind because the human body is _technically_ made of water, that's a bit of a stretch. I'll get into the specifics of having such a devastatingly-powerful character (from a creative standpoint) in just a second, but what I'm trying to get at is that these kids are just demigods. Which is awesome and dangerous, but also not god-level powerful. Letting any old child of Poseidon lift the entire Atlantic ocean and dropping it on top of their opponent's head would be hilariously stupid and unreasonable.

This also applies to giving them powers that are of questionable connection to the godly parent; for example, if a child of Athena is suddenly able to control pencils and other academic objects with their mind or something. I wish I could say that was the stupidest so-called "connection" I've seen to powers in demigods on Fanfiction in recent days.

The premise for the birth of this demigod should be viable to the universe. I've seen an Artemis child story go right exactly one time: the _Broken Bow_ series by Xed Alpha. Who handled it with all the precision of a neurosurgeon at work and with exponentially more writing skill than most writers achieve. Gushing aside, some children are off limits to the vast majority of fanfiction writers for a reason. Hera kids and Artemis kids are the primary ones, but the ones that piss me off the most are the "discoveries" of more Big Three demigods with stories based around the same time as the series. They are rarely done even passably, and often they don't give even close to enough information to justify the stipulations.

If it sounds like I am AU (stands for Alternate Universe) bashing, let me assure you that _I am_. I've seen far too many that just suck so hard and are copied so often that I can't enjoy even some of the more decent AU stories. It's either because the new rules are so overarching that it's not even _close_ to the same universe that we actually care about, or the going-about of those new rules are written so poorly and given so little elaboration that the reader is thrust into an uncomfortable situation equivalent to being thrown into a volcano to be sacrificed to the Aztec sky god Quetzalcoatl.

If it's well-written, I will enjoy almost any story, including AU PJO fanfiction. But if it's at the median standard of Fanfiction stories (which is, by the way, too low), I will be hard-pressed to try to read the AU story unless the new premise is actually interesting and original. And if it's interesting and original, well, it's probably well-written anyway, because it shows a higher level of writing ability to try something both new _and_ good.

Rant over*. Let the hate reviews flow in.

*Sorry, Nemo. Never heard back on that word, so I'll just have to use it to describe this... quite-fitting situation for the seemingly-viable word.

Anyway, those are some general rules for the demigod OC creation situation. By the way, don't capitalize "demigod" in stories, kids. Just don't. It's not a title, it's a word determining a common noun, and therefore isn't capitalized. Rick Riordan never capitalized "demigod," and neither should you.

* * *

**Mary Sues and the Like (Oh Boy):**

You know, for such a terrible, awful, ridiculous thing, there is a surprising amount of confusion as to what qualifies as the dreaded "Mary Sue." The correct definition of a Mary Sue is as follows: a common occurrence in fanfiction works defined by being an idealized self-insert of the author, often (but not necessarily) given a very strange name, who is portrayed as being disproportionally powerful, efficient, smart, and generally perfect, rendering other characters useless. They will often be paired with a character from the fanfiction material, and almost inevitably they are quite one-dimensional and lack actual depth as a character.

The male version of the Mary Sue is usually referred to as either a "Marty Stu" or a "Gary Sue."

If you couldn't tell up to this point, I have serious problems with the Mary Sue. I'll try to break them down and try not to let my message be lost in the haze of pure hatred.

Firstly, I dislike direct self-insertion as a general rule. It's probably very fun to _write_ (I wouldn't know), and is certainly fun to think about (I certainly _would_ know), but to _read_ is a completely different story. To be brutally honest, I don't need to or want to hear about how some person I don't know would suddenly become mixed in a completely implausible situation and presumably make out with Percy Jackson at some point. I really wish I was just talking about the stereotypical fan-_girls _there. [_Shudders._]

If you want to write like that, go ahead. But you will have to understand that it will take a _lot_ of talent and effort to actually make me and the rest of your readers like you as a legitimate character, and your story as a legitimate story. You will have to be a very applicable, interesting, and relatable person (and you'll have to show that well) before your avatar can match up to actual literary characters in terms of sheer likeability for an audience. At some point you may want to rethink writing in such a way and just try making characters (see above).

I don't like my real imaginary people hooking up with my fake imaginary people. By that I mean cross-shipping Rick Riordan's characters with OCs (here meaning specifically Mary Sues, but this also applies to other OCs). It's like mixing random condiments with french fries on a plate and hoping that it tastes as good as ketchup with french fries. Why the hell are you trying to mix mustard with your God damn french fries? Don't you know that _ketchup_ is the condiment that fits with french fries? Go put the mustard on that turkey sandwich over there and let nature happen, weirdo. Ketchup and french fries are a proven match, so don't try to split them up for your amusement. Maybe some people won't like the mustard with the turkey sandwich, but they definitely won't like the mustard with the french fries, especially if the ketchup is sitting there watching. That would just be cruel. The mustard and the turkey sandwich at least have a better shot of people liking both of them together, because even if mustard and the turkey sandwich hasn't been tested together just as much as the mustard and french fries haven't, turkey doesn't have a match yet, so it's only natural that they should go together before freaking french fries and mustard.

**[ANALOGY INTENSIFIES]**

You may or may not attract a certain scion of people who will sort-of enjoy the mustard and the french fries if given a try. It would be foolish to think that everyone has the same taste in dinner food and condiments. But in general, those same people will very likely still enjoy ketchup and french fries more than mustard and french fries, unless there's a strange dislike of the ketchup/french fries combination. And God help you if you try to get ketchup and mustard together! There had better be a past inclination of the ketchup being good with other condiments before that happens, or at least evidence of ketchup not choosing to go with the dinner food of any kind. Not that I have anything against the concept of condiment/condiment pairing, of course. It's just that, it should be congruous with the ketchup's past dealings with edible things in general, or else it's bad characterization. I mean, bad culinary skills. So in conclusion: try to keep the ketchup with the french fries, try to keep the mustard away from both the french fries and the ketchup, and whether you want to put the mustard with the turkey sandwich is entirely up to you. You made both of them at your own home, after all. Totally your choice.

[That was exhausting. I hope all you intelligent readers got the whole thing; I tried to make it pretty obvious. Moving back to Mary Sues.]

The last and most stressful thing I have to complain about is the perfection aspect of the Mary Sue. Having a perfect character is boring as hell for a reader. It is absolutely poisonous to the rest of the story, because it's a trickle-down effect. When one character starts to outperform another, an eclipsing effect begins to happen, in which both the writer and the reader begin to understand that the second character is totally useless now. Why keep using that horseradish when the mustard keeps blowing horseradish out of the water? Sorry, I'm still stuck on that fucking analogy. The point is, the second character is used less and less, and the Mary Sue sucks in its prior tasks like Charybdis the Greco-Roman sea monster sucking in a third of the Spanish Armada off the coast of Scotland back in 1588. I FOUND IT, GUYS! IT EVEN HAS HISTORICAL BACKING! THAT IS INTELLECTUAL AS BALLS!

I'll tell you all one of my many exclusive writers' secrets: readers are sadistic as hell. Readers want to see your heroes struggle, get punched into the ground, get stomped deeper into the ground, and then claw their way out of that stupid hole and rip some guy's head off in righteous anger. In order to do that, your heroes need some damn flaws. It makes them relatable to the audience, and allows for far more interesting plot development. If your character is perfect, what the heck is stopping them from just walking up to the big bad guy and just ending the whole thing? Unsportsman-like conduct? Twenty yards back is well worth saving the entire planet, thank you very much. And you can't just say that "Hey, the bad guy can just get stronger," because that still leaves the problem of the whole "no other character matters anymore" thing you have going on thanks to the Mary Sue. You've made it so that Mary Sue can _only_ win, or else the world is doomed because no one is nearly as powerful as Ol' Mary.

Characters need flaws. The best heroes aren't the ones that don't lose; they're the ones who never give up. Those are the real heroes, the ones we remember and keep in our minds through our entire lives. Mary Sues aren't heroes; they simply can't be. Not Mary Sues by definition anyway. I hope each and every one of you good readers have come to understand this. Mary Sues have to go. And we're the ones who can show the way by writing to the best of our abilities.

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**Thank you all so much for reading. Be sure to review if you have something to say, and I hope you all continue to stick with The Guide. Later!  
**

**-Grandmaster4**


	5. Entry Four: Characterization

**A/N: Alright, time for some review replying!**

**SpartanWarrior117- It's wonderful that I helped you out. It can be very easy to like a Mary Sue if you're the writer, but it's important that you keep in mind that your readers only see the depth _you_ give a character, not the depth you yourself see in them. This next chapter will help show how to project that depth within writing, by the way. Anyway, I was happy to be of help. Keep improving, man. You have a fan in me.**

**Anastasia The Goddess of Drama- I'm not currently registered as a beta, but I suppose I will have to soon. I really would love to help you out when I get it up and running. Stay tuned on that!**

**Guest- Then keep reading, please! Seriously, if I keep getting such positive feedback and responses from readers who benefit from The Guide, I'll keep writing it. Simple as that.**

**Lemonade Lunatic- I'm thankfully from a decent Midwestern school who taught respectable grammar from middle school on up, including who/whom discrepancies. Great teachers. But something to keep in mind is that the word and usage of "whom" is steadily declining throughout the English language, both in literary and vernacular circles. The thing about living languages (as opposed to dead languages like Latin) is that they're constantly changing. It's important to embrace that change if you're a writer. As a result, if the trend continues, "whom" will go the way of "thou" and "thee" (which, by the way, used to be the respectful forms of direct and indirect "you") and we'll all just use "who" regardless of direct or indirect. Don't bemoan such a change too much; the language will survive without indirect "who." Similar to how we don't currently have a gender-neutral pronoun and as a result use the technically-incorrect "they" in vernacular instead of constantly saying "he/she," the language will change to accommodate the needs of the speakers.**

**"Writing Magic" by Gail Carson-Levine is a wonderful book, and it helped shape who I am as a writer today. It is designed for younger audiences, but I still refer to it occasionally. I'd recommend any and all of my readers to give it a Google search and find an online version. Great stuff, guys. Were I more skilled, I would try to take more inspiration from it in The Guide, specifically the writing assignments.**

* * *

**Entry Four: Story Characterization**

**So now, thanks to The Guide's omnipotent wisdom, you at least have some idea as to how to create and brainstorm well-developed characters. But where does that leave you in terms of a story? Better off than before, but if you can't communicate your ideas of characters (or ideas in general) unless the delivery is effective. This process in terms of characters is called "characterization," or "characterisation" for our readers across the pond. Your fancy use of "ou" instead of just "o" didn't stop you from getting your butts handed to you back in '81, did it? _Yorktown: Never Forget_.  
**

**Characterization, as a general rule, needs to be fluidly and precisely delivered, at a pace that is both comfortable and interesting for the reader. It doesn't come as a surprise to me that so many writers on Fanfiction screw it up. And as a deviation from my usual charade, I will admit that this was probably my most troublesome facet of writing in the beginning. It requires an understanding of the audience (and the appearance of your work to said audience) that comes to very few writers without practice. You can't just shove a ton of information into your readers' faces all at once, and you can't leave them hanging on paltry amounts of info that leads them into wrong conclusions. **

**This entry of The Guide will aid in the rigorous process of developing plans for characterization in the stories of my readers. It may give you all an edge and improve how people react to your stories, which is also the goal of The Guide as a whole.**

* * *

**Introduction:**

Every character needs to be introduced effectively to the reader to stand any chance of connecting to that reader. The only reason we like certain characters is because we became interested in them, and we only become interested in them if, early on, we are shown something about them that intrigue us and/or appeal to us. There are certain things that should be kept in mind as you go about doing this in your own stories:

You have to give us some base-line for appearance early on. Readers as a general rule don't enjoy filling in blanks when visualizing what is happening. In addition, you as the writer needs to find the balance between too little information on appearance and too much. The reader should be able to easily picture the person while at the same time not being drowned in a flood of information that they will likely forget. Give us the important attributes (I consider relative size, hair color, shape, and significant facial features to be a good place to start, if not to end), not how many freckles are on each cheek or exactly how big their waistline is_ unless it is imperative or significant in some way to what is happening or going to happen_. Also, keep in mind that this may be prolonged if being told from the first-person POV or if the specific character is being centered in third-person POV. You may come up with some situation in which the character has a reason to think about their appearance (looking in a mirror, having another character comment on it, etc.) but since people in general don't suddenly think about their own appearance without provocation, it would seem odd or fake to do so.

Don't give us too much background right away. One technique that has stood the test of time for getting people interested in a character is making the reader ask questions. "Why is this person in this situation? I suppose I now have to keep reading if I ever want to figure it out, because what has been presented makes me want to learn more." If _that_ is going through the mind of the reader, it is _never_ a bad thing (it's a bit strange that your readers are so bland in their internal monologue, but you get the idea). I suppose if they are thinking this about every single character at the same time, it may get a bit overwhelming (there should be, in other words, characters whose motives and situation are already clear or at least reasonably deducible at a given point, either done by spacing out which characters are being developed at a time or by making characters who are simply not that hard to figure out), but barring that background should never be just spewed out, leaving nothing to ponder or think about.

Finally, remember to make some of that character's core values* apparent from the get-go. Once again, do not throw everything out there at once. Moderation is key to all of these points. If a reader is completely apparent of what that character is going to do, they will never be surprised, which is poison for reader-character connection. But _something_ should be apparent in how they act from their introduction that points to what they value or what motivates them. Even if it's just an intense desire to survive (in the event of being introduced while the character is being attacked), that's better than nothing. So many writers on this site give pretty much nothing in terms of what makes their character tick, and it is honestly infuriating at times. How can they expect us to like their characters if they don't give them any depth? And yes, core values are absolutely instrumental in giving a character depth (not everything, but a good chunk of it).

*The Five-Core Development and One-Path Development strategies are very effective for finding a character's core values, and they can be found on the prior OC Development Entry. These strategies are by no means the only ways to find/make core values, but they will definitely help if you take the time to try them out.

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**Continuous Development:**

You've won half the battle for characterization if you introduce a character effectively. Unfortunately, the half of the battle that you won was the half that consisted of beating down a bunch of stupid grunts in a James Bond movie. The half that we will now be dealing with, the continuous side of characterization, is the part where the Head Baddie starts aiming some nonsensical-in-the-practical-sense-yet-still-apparently-terrifying WMD at Bond and/or Great Britain and rambling away at every aspect of his plan for world domination. In other words, it's much more long-winded and, if done incorrectly, very boring for all involved parties.

Up to this point, since we are working primarily with fanfiction as opposed to contemporary writing, none of what I've written applies very well to writers who choose to write strictly around Series Characters. Sure, you can reintroduce a character from Rick Riordan in your stories, in which case please look to the advice above, but it may not be necessary. But starting _here_, those writers may want to start paying attention, because continuous development applies to both OCs and Series Characters equally.

One of the most important things to remember as your story continues is to make sure that your characters are continuing to act in a way that is congruous with their previously-determined values and characteristics. Failing to do so is commonly called going OOC (Out Of Character), and it shows a quite poor understanding of the specific character and his/her values.

A common example of this happening on Fanfiction is making Percy Jackson out to be this awesome, perfect popular kid whom everyone should love. Which isn't even close to congruous to the image of Percy given by Mr. Riordan; Percy possesses a number of admirable traits to be sure, but the reason we all admire him so much (at least the reason _I_ admire his character) is because he _isn't_ the perfect hero. He's moody, he gets angry, he gets scared, he's often oblivious, and above all else he's a _real_ hero. Because despite his flaws, despite having all the odds against him and the weight of the entire world on his shoulders, he always stands up for what he knows is right and doesn't give up. Acting like he's perfect takes away the reasons most people relate to and like him.

Another example is giving a character a certain trait, then not acting on it or actively acting against it. if a character is shy, and has been established to both the writer and the readers as shy, they cannot begin to act otherwise out of the blue. If such a change is desired, it can become a gradual process of that character becoming more outspoken, not something that is obviously just the writer not remembering how that character is supposed to act. This also applies to physical traits; I am ashamed of how many times I have read about a character who apparently can't decide what color their hair actually is. It's amateurism of the highest sort to forget about who a character is and what they look like, and it can even show a disregard for the writing as a whole by the author.

Finally, remember to keep developing the background and traits of your characters _slowly_ as you continue writing. Drop a tidbit here and there of either background or core traits into a comment they make or is made about them. Once again, moderation please, but you also can't keep your readers hanging on nothing for too long. The one thing readers hate more than too much information at once about a character is having a bunch of dead-end hints that are never explained.

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**I hope you all got good information from this chapter. Please continue reading, following, and reviewing The Guide, and if you need clarification on something I'd be happy to either edit The Guide to accommodate or answer directly as a review reply. PMs are acceptable as well, and I'll always try to get back to you guys as soon as I can. Later!**

**-Grandmaster4**


	6. Entry Five: Grammar

**A/N: The reviews for the last chapter weren't exactly overwhelming, but I understand that there are up and down weeks sometimes. Time to address the few reviewers who _did_ review last week:**

**Lemonade Lunatic- People as a general rule are idiots, LL. Ignorance is one hell of a drug. The best thing you can do is politely correct them and hope it sinks in. I also loved those starter sentences with a passion; I went all-out on a couple of them in literary terms. Would you like to read my Ghost Eating a Sandwich one? I can PM it to you some time if you do.**

**Anastasia The Goddess of Drama- Oh my. I hope you didn't get discouraged by what I wrote in that entry. Using those types of summaries doesn't necessarily mean that you don't care about your writing or are inherently bad at writing; it's just that it may appear to be that way to your readers. I strongly encourage you to put more thought and effort into your summaries in the future, and I hope you keep reading and learning from The Guide.**

**I'mnotgoodwithusernames1234- Love the username. Thanks for your compliment of The Guide; I try very hard to help people out as well as I can to improve, and I hope you take something out of this Guide, too. I wonder, would you recommend any other writing guides here on Fanfiction for other readers to check out?**

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**Entry Five: Grammar**

**Oh boy. You guys probably expected this chapter to come up eventually in a Guide like this.**

**As I have hopefully made clear up to this point, grammar is very important in any story that is enjoyable to read. Grammar as a definition is the body of various rules concerning how certain words and phrases should be used and organized in certain types of sentences. And if you don't follow them, well, people notice. Anyone who has familiarized themselves with the English language as a whole will understand that something's... off if grammar isn't followed, especially the more fundamental aspects. As a result, learning how grammar works is absolutely essential to any writer, and this section of The Guide will expand many go-to rules of grammar.**

**I shouldn't have to describe the state of grammar usage here on Fanfiction. I will inevitably sound pretentious, and while that doesn't usually stop me, I figure a line has to be drawn at some point. Just know that it's a bit ridiculous in this day and age of spell-check and grammar-check (not to mention Google search) that people are lazy enough or uncaring enough to not make their stories look good and well-written.**

**This section will be an ongoing expansion as more grammar rules are added or brought to my attention. My hope is that this entry will eventually be an extensive go-to list that anyone can use if they are unsure of grammar rules of any kind. I'll try to keep each point short, but encompassing what's needed to know.**

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**Their/There/They're:**

Very common errors concern the various vocally-identical words above. Basically "there" is always a specific place (often close in relation to where the speaker is, or is being referenced as such), "their" is a third-person possessive pronoun describing something belonging to a plural group of people (because of the lack of a gender-neutral pronoun in the English language, it is often also used as the possessive for a person of undetermined gender; while technically incorrect, it is slowly becoming integrated into the vernacular), and "they're" is a contraction of "they are."

"The sandwiches are over _there. _(Place in relation to the speaker. Imagine him pointing at it.)

_Their_ sandwiches are the best. (People in charge of the sandwiches)

_They're_ always made with the highest quality ingredients." (they [the sandwiches] are)

**Your/You're:**

"Your" is a second-person possessive pronoun describing something that belongs to the person(s) that the speaker is directly referring to, while "you're" is a contraction of "you are."

_"Your_ sandwich seems to be terribly soggy. (Person he's talking _to_, not _about)_

_You're_ not going to take mine, are you?" (You are)

**Then/Than:**

"Then" is a measure of time, referring to something directly proceeding after something else has happened. "Than" is a word used in comparison of two things, joined with an intensifier or "rather." By the way, an intensifier does exactly what it looks like it would do: makes something have more of a quality, such as "stronger" of "smarter," which would then be joined with "than" to make the contrast.

_Then_ suddenly, the disgruntled young man with the soggy sandwich attempted to swipe the good sandwich out of his friend's hand. (Unit of time after the directly previous events)

"I would _rather_ die _than_ let you take my sandwich!" the betrayed friend screamed to his new nemesis. (Die -rather than- Give up the sandwich)

**Who/Whom/That:**

If you've been reading my A/N's recently, this is already being covered. "Who" is technically supposed to be used as a pronoun for a direct object, while "whom" is supposed to be used as a pronoun for the indirect object. However, "whom" is falling out of use in the English language, and as a result strict adherence to this rule isn't realistic or even wholly necessary. Another thing that isn't very well known to the average writer here on Fanfiction is when to use "who" and when to use "that" (as a pronoun). "Who" is always used as a pronoun for a person, while "that" is used for an animal or object.

"Am I the only one _who_ doesn't get a good sandwich!?" (Note that it's both referring to the direct object [the speaker] and a person)

"No, but _whom_ did the vender give the good sandwich? Me!" (Indirect object: speaker; direct object: vender)

The sandwiches were the only objects in the grand scheme of things _that_ didn't care either way who got the good sandwich. (the sandwiches are objects, not people)

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**Like I said, this will continue expanding with sandwich-based examples as I think of them or others point them out. You are all probably furious at me for not updating in so long, so you all deserve an explanation. Studying for finals and practicing for my various Track meets really left me with no time. **

**In addition, I will keep my promise to myself and my good readers to continue Apple of Discord this summer. With school grinding to a close, I will begin updating that again. I will try to squeeze in a couple more entries while writing AoD, but obviously my attentions will be divided. Stay tuned one and all!**

**-Grandmaster4**


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